ACID EXTRACTION TREATMENT OF BIVALVES FOR ORGANOTIN SPECIATION/

A method is described for leaching of nanogram amounts of monobutyltin (MBT), dibutyltin (DBT), tributyltin (TBT), monophenyltin (MPT), diph enyltin (DPT), triphenyltin (TPT), and monomethyltin (MMT) from bivalv es. The procedure is based on soaking the samples in a water-hydrogen bromide mixture (1:1) with magnetic stirring for 30 min followed by ex traction with a 0.04% (w/v) tropolone solution in dichloromethane for 2 h. Organotins are determined by GC-FPD after clean-up through a Flor isil column and fat hydrolysis by 1 mol/L NaOH, followed by derivatiza tion through Grignard pentylation. The method has been applied for an investigation of the occurrence of organotins in bivalves in south-wes t Spain.